the walkmen

www.miaminewtimes.com - August 24, 2006 (edit version, original below)

Of the slew of Big Bad Apple bands to emerge at the beginning of this decade, few have culled the core like the Walkmen.

Brash, blasted, and organic, they took what was best about a bar-room brawl and rooted it in the heavens. Best, they did it without the garage rock trappings or the goth rock overtures of some of their equally classed counterparts.

You heard the score: The roar of “The Rat” (Pitchfork Media’s #6 Single of the Year for ’04); the Saturn Ion adding of “We’ve Been Had;” The O.C. swinging of “What’s in it For Me” and “Little House of Savages.” They were big. They were bold. They were beautiful. Omnipresent anthems for a soarful street.

These days The Walkmen have ditched much of the Boy’s bombast and instead spilled what seems to be a bucketful of Blood on the Tracks of their tears. The slab’s called A Hundred Miles Off, and it’s about as low down as high minds get. Whether or not you deem it on the mark will all depend on how you feel about the evolution of a city-slicked swamp. But you might wanna hold your forked tongue till you catch their act live, ‘cause these cats know how to shake some action.

The Walkmen perform at 8:00 p.m. Friday, August 25th, at Studio A, 60 NE 11th St, Miami. Call 305-358-ROCK for more information.